Black Snow [Open][Plot Heavy]

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Dragons all over have started to feel the change. They have all started to get odd sensations, that they can't quite explain. Some barely feel it to a point the don't even know its there, while others just need to receive the right push to realize something is off. Others are well aware that something is off, but they don't know what. This is understandable.

But as the volcano known as Riamorsa erupts for the first time in over one hundred thousand years, a quiet voice in the backs of everyone's head sounds off in warning. It's almost enough to make one pause, try to remember what they were thinking about, and then just keep walking.

The ashes travel across the land, riding the wind, as it carries them to every corner of Nuira. The black snow.

(The following is the kickstarter and first official post of the sitewide plot. If you are confused as to the setting, this will take place in the woods of Layrian, possible near a small lake. Your character can be doing a patrol, wandering around, hunting. Whatever you would like. Takes place around mid afternoon.)

(Just fyi Kenma, they are actually in a forest, not a barren terrain.)

At this point, Xasheski had fallen into a sitting position, watching the other dragons talk jubilantly amongst themselves. Something about a disaster? Was there some kind of twister or something he didn’t know about? The confused dragon flicked his ear awkwardly, wondering how many of these dragons knew what they were talking about, and which ones were just going along with it. Most of the dragons seemed skeptical, though. Some were intrigued, but most were just confused, for the most part.

But if so, what was it? The tiny dragon shook his head a bit. His confusion was only intensified when he overheard one dragon, the same one whom had come up to him, was actually the chief of the Vuari! Xasheski’s whole body tensed up, his claws digging into the dirt. Was he really that close to the Vuarian territory? Or had the leader just flown rather far from home. Maybe his little safe haven wasn’t as safe as he had originally anticipated it being. He swallowed nervously, and started to shift backwards.

Maybe staying out in the open like this was a bad idea. Maybe he should head back to his own little house. He, however, paused. These dragons didn’t seem too dangerous. He was quiet for a moment, unsure of what to do, when a sudden, foreign smell fell over him. He looked up, only for a strange, black snowflake to fall on his nose. His eyes widened, and he backed up.

What on Nuira was that? It looked like ashes, like what you’d see from the remnants of a fire, but smelled much worse. While his back was turned to the other dragons, he thought he spot another dragon in the distance.

Okay, there were too many dragons here. Xasheski quickly turned around, and walked back over to where the group of dragons were. However, he maneuvered himself so he was closer to Harry and Tsidia, two dragons that he recognized.

Koal was generally confused, they speak of threats and where to go to avoid them, they speak pure non-sense all based on a strange sensensation. "How can you be so sure? What if its trickery or a disease from the ash?" Koal asked, looking around at the group.

Koal shoots out a ring of fire from his nostrils in annoyance, something about this whole thing just didn't feel right. "Hmph, since everyone is being so openly with their names, I suppose I should be inroduce myself. My name is Koal."

Hyruu listened to what the other dragons said, noticing how a few of them seemed to be indeed doubtful about the danger of the whole thing. Finally some dragons with a more pragmatic sense! The grey dragon huffed, his tail swishing to the side.
"Work out the problem? None of us even knows what the problem is! No, even better, no one seems to know if there's an actual problem. What are you planning to work out then? If all you plan to do is talk in the air, I'd rather not waste my time. And if some catastrophe happens like some of you seem to think, then what we need is a reunion between all concerned Tribes, not just some random encounter between a handful of dragons that won't be able to really make any decision anyway. Let's go, Fate. I think everyone understood you offered shelter if they needed, now that's the only thing we can do here. Let's go back and..."
Hyruu was cut in his sentence as a black snowflake passed in front of his eyes, followed by another that landed on his muzzle.
"... Ash?" he wondered, eyes widening.
With a powerful thrust the grey dragon leapt in the air, raising himself over the treetop with a few flaps from his wings. Where could that ash come from?
((Dunno if I'm supposed to see the smoke cloud from here))

Fate listened to all of the dragons intently. Hyruu was right, though. They didn't know if there even was a problem. But he had a bad feeling in his gut, and he knew it must not just be nothing. Then Hyruu flew up into the air, calling him to come back to the tribe, but he was cut off short as a black flake flew onto him. Fate saw several more start to slowly fall to the ground. Silent, but ominous. It sent chills down his spine. He swallowed hard before following Hyruu to where he was hovering in the air. He also searched for where the thick smelling ash could be coming from. //Sorry for the short post, but I too don't know if they are able to see the ash cloud or not.

Harry sighed. "Of course now that someone has something valuable to say everyone is gonna misinterpret and..." - his sentence was cut short when something landed on him. It looked like something he must have seen in a dream before. A little black snowflake burning through his snout. Soon many more started to rain down from the sky. "THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT" - Tsidia shouted out and shivered, instinctively sticking to Harry. He encompassed her quickly, trying to calm her down. He looked up into the sky. "So now that we've gotten the "waiting" part out of the way, lets proceed to "If any further signs are showing." He watched as dragons who didn't seem to catch his drift leaped into the air "Ya seein somethin there??", he called out to them and lowered his snout, turning his attention to Tsidia, quietly humming peaceful melodies for her.

Xasheski would listen to the other dragons with an awkward expression on his face. He wasn’t really sure what to do. Everyone else seemed to on edge all of a sudden, and not to mention everyone was already confused fro Tsidia suddenly freaking out in the way that she had. Part of him wished the dragoness had simply kept her mouth shut. It would have avoided drama. And besides, there were already a lot of dragons here that were much older than he was, and probably had a lot more experience dealing with this kind of stuff than he did. Meanwhile, here he was, caught up in the midst of it.

Sure, there was nothing really keeping him here, but part of him wanted to see how this all played out. It wasn’t like he had anything better he was suppose to be doing. Sure, he could go hunting and gather up some food so he didn’t have to do anything later, but he wasn’t really in the mood for hunting. Besides, he had never really hung around tribe dragons. Afterall, his last couple experiences with tribe dragons hadn’t ended well, so he had been quite weary of going near any of their borders. Lucky for him, most tribes on Layrian lived up in the north. But that did make him wonder what so many tribe dragons were doing down here. At least, he assumed most of them were tribal, considering the fact they smelled differently than himself or Tsidia and Harry.

It wasn’t until the first couple ashes started to fall, did everyone begin to tense up, and worries began to clog the air. Instantly, dragons grew tense, as if some kind of vale had been placed over everyone’s eyes, and now they were just running around blind. Xasheski himself was a little concerned. Where was this ash coming from? When he looked up at the sky, it appeared clear. There were even a few white, puffy clouds that would go past his vision, sitting up in the sky lazily, as if nothing was wrong, and he was crazy to think anything had been messed up. Which made his curiosity rise even more.

Before he had a chance to leap into the sky to investigate himself, he watched as another strange would fly up high. He would sit awkwardly, curling his tail around his paws, ducking his head down a bit, trying to make himself appear smaller than he was. Was sticking around really a good idea? If something bad was coming, like Tsidia claimed, then he should head back to his cave. He flashed a hesitant glance over at Tsidia while he thought this. Maybe he could take her and Harry with him as well? It would probably be safer than it would be just standing around here and wondering what was going on…..

Or it could be more dangerous. The smell of ash was becoming much stronger. Xasheski could smell it thickly coating the wind. It made his scales stand on end, and the frills on the side of his head would vibrate a bit in unease. He’d watch as a few more ashes would slice through the sky cleanly, floating, and landing in the river. He saw the ash fall atop the trees, as well. His attention would be alerted back to the tribe leader, the one of the Vuari, when the dragon called up to the feathered one which had flown into the sky, presumably to check and see what was happening.

Man, he really felt like he should bow, or something. He had never been in the presence of royalty before, and he just felt awkward having said nothing but a small hi. He look over the tribe leader nervously, before turning away. Best for him to just try not to think about it. Going over now and bowing would just seem…. Well, he couldn’t quite explain, but he felt he might offend the leader with his delayed reaction. So instead, Xasheski would hesitantly wait for the other dragon to examine what was going on, and to relay what he knew to the rest of the group, if that was really what he was doing. The young night fury’s breath was caught in his throat, suspense filling his being, even as another snowflake of ash fell on his snout.

As Hyruu would fly into the air, at first, he wouldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. A blue sky, and a couple white, blotchy clouds, drifting lazily across the sky, going where the wind would carry them. However, if he were to turn his attention east, in the direction of the coast, he would notice a rather intimidating sight. On the horizon, were black clouds of ash. They pretty much resembled what you’d see in a forest fire, except having a much darker, choking feel to them. And it didn’t look as if the smoke was coming from the trees, like a forest fire. It almost looked like the smoke was coming from the ocean itself…

Xasheski tensed up when Tsidia started screaming. He held his head with his wings, considering he had moved closer to them. He then flashed a look at Tsidia. He hadn’t spoken yet, due to fear of drawing attention to himself. Looking up at Hyruu, then back at Tsidia, he would hesitant clear his throat, and say, quietly, “Look, if there is something coming, maybe we should head back to our homes. We’d probably be safest there….” he said awkwardly, unsure of how to add to the conversation.

Kenma observed all this, with a blank, emotionless expression, but alarm flashed across his face at the ash that drifted around them, beautiful, yet holding an sinister feel to them, spinning around the group of dragons in a shower of grey and black. He felt very alone suddenly - all of them seemed to know each other, well, were more familiar with each other than Kenma with any of them, and if something were to happen, would they look back to help him, or would they go straight, not turning back, leaving him in the ash?

Such worries clouded his mind, and added on to the pit of dread chilling his stomach, he did not feel too good. But he did not say anything, not wishing to seem like an attention seeker, merely looked around, his slightly narrowed eyes focused and alert. Taking to the sky, like the rest, to get a better look, he swept his gaze around... Only to see a thick, black cloud heading straight for them, making the would-be horizon look intimidating. Scary, sinister. "Look," he said softly, in Universal, but loud enough for all of them to hear him. "The ash... It's thicker there..." A shout from one of the dragons startled him, almost making him drop out of the sky, but he remained where he was; and then he heard the night fury's comment, and he bobbed his head in agreement, a look of worry crossing his face as he asked out loud, "But where could it have come from?"

Koal rose his head toward the sky when he noticed the ashe, and yet not a single volcano in sight. Not only that, but those didn't look like normal ashe to him. When a piece landed on his nose, that confirmed it because of the vile smell of the black snowflake. "There has to be more to this than it being abnormal." Koal asked with a sharp snort.. You couldn't really blame the wyvern for the way he acts, he is a rogue dragon afterall, a dragon that wonders across the haven.

"Would it be wise if warriors such as I, to go and investigate this strange phenomenally?" Koal asked. If this things holds any ill intention to the havens, he will be ready.

Hyruu's eyes widened at the sight he got from up there. A menacing looking black cloud could be seen in the distance, over the ocean. Whatever that was, it seemed it was from where those ashes were coming. But those weren't ashes from a forest fire - those could barely reach some distance, and also they certainly weren't smelling like that. No, this was a whole other thing, which made him all the more worried. Also because that cloud was high, maybe high enough to reach the mountains. And that thought was definitely worrying.
The grey dragon landed back toward Fate, kinda ignoring what the others said - he hadn't paid enough attention with what he had just scouted.
"Fate, there's some kind of black cloud in the distance. It seems high enough to reach the peak of the mountains. It's over the ocean for the moment, can't see from here if it's moving. We need to get back up." he summarized, trying to prevent his surprise from altering the objectivity of the report.

Harry sighed. The longer he thought about it, the more the idea of simply leaving was more tempting. It's not like he could stop whatever was happening by simply thinking about it, and if it really was the worst case (a volcanic eruption) he would much, MUCH rather be in the twilight palace when it happens. Actually, he should be there right now. He wasn't going to miss the mid-winter Solstice even if the world ended. Just find an excuse to get there...

"As you can see Tsidia isn't in her best condition. Us staying here will only make it more annoying and stressful for everybody, so we will get going. If you need us for anything we'll be on our way to the twilight palace." Tsidia stared at him, quickly returning to her senses and battling off any dispensable emotions "What are you doing? I'm fine, I~"
"shh, just play along", he passed over to her on their little secret channel.

Seeing the worry in her eyes after few steps he turned around. "Oh, and if it doesn't stop raining after few minutes it could be volcano eruption in which case you should get the heck out of here."

Xasheski was bewildered. Never in his life had anything so peculiar happened. He could also feel the visible unease starting to grow on all of the dragons. It was unusual, seeing so many dragons, a mix of rogues and tribe dragons, all gathered together peacefully. But then again, tribe dragons didn’t usually wander this far out, unless they were planning on conquering more land. Xash shivered at the thought, lifting his head once more to stare at the sky.

As Hyruu would fly up, he would call down what he saw. A black cloud in the distance? Was that something Xash should be worried about? He sent a worried glance over at one dragon, who had volunteered to go investigate. Perhaps it would be a good idea to send someone to go check it out. After all, you could never be too safe. And it couldn’t be a forest fire, because it seemed to be coming from the ocean. So what was it?

“U-uh, I agree with you. I think m-maybe someone should check it out. If it’s d-dangerous, we should warn somebody…” the night fury said nervously, both trying to be helpful and trying not to be seen at the same time. He wasn’t usually one to concern himself with other dragons, and it was hard to get a hold of rogues. It was probably best for him to just head back to his cave in the woods. But then again, would the black cloud follow him?

The ash started to rain down harder, as the black cloud started to approach even faster. With it, winds brought the smell of seawater, as well as sulfur and burnt wood. A few specs of ash would touch Hyruu, that also happened to be hot, lightly burning some of his furr.

// Look at this, guys https://dragonshaven.forumotion.com/t281-leaving-for-a-bit#2574

Kenma shrugged to himself, deciding that he would just stay in the background for now and not do anything - no one was paying any heed to him anyway, and maybe he could use it to his advantage? - so he stood there, retreating back a step or two, listening to the other dragons talk and wondering if he should offer his own opinion. Being quiet and currently holding no conversations had its own advantages though, leaving him with the ability to focus fully on the ash cloud that loomed, seeming more threatening than ever, emanating an ominous air that sent shudders tripping down his spine. He stiffened in surprise as the ash cloud rained down on them with more force than before, biting back a yelp as his fur was singed. He couldn't stay for long - his fur was very flammable, and those were hot, earning another muffled sound from Kenma as falling ash once again trailed its sparks onto his fur. "I should go back," he muttered quietly to himself, not sure if anyone even heard him.

Koal takes to the skies and follows the trial of smoke to where it may lead, he glides through the air over the terrain, eventually arriving at volcano and peaking in.

(I'm deeply sorry or my short post, there's no inspiration to draw from..)

Hyruu barely listened to what the other dragons were saying. Most of them were just confused by what was going on, the rest was mostly trying to find an excuse to get away from the place. Which, considering the situation, might be the sanest thing to do. The grey dragon slightly huffed at Fate's indecisiveness, and ruffled his wings, looking ready to fly again.
"I'll go back up the mountains." he simply said before turning his back to the group. There was no point in saying more than this. He had already exposed his point before, and he certainly wasn't going to spend any more unnecessary time here. He had a mate and a Tribe to warn. With a swift jump, the grey dragon flew out of the clearing, heading toward the mountain range.